San Fernando still saying ‘I do’ to bridal shops
For years, downtown San Fernando has been a retail hub for dozens of bridal stores and related businesses catering to prospective brides and grooms and to seekers of gowns and gear for proms, baptisms and coming-of-age quinceanera ceremonies.
When business was good, merchants recalled, shoppers from across the Valley, downtown Los Angeles and neighboring Ventura County would cram the two-block strip that comprises the outdoor San Fernando Mall.
“We had enough business for everybody,” said Juana Cuiriz, who heads the San Fernando Downtown Assn.
But the economic downturn has reduced the number of customers. And now the abundance of bridal stores, once celebrated, is causing some concern.
“Even though the economy is bad, there are just too many bridal shops,” said Lorena Nunez, owner of Lilian’s Bridal and Tuxedo Shop, which has been in San Fernando since 1967. “Because of all this competition . . . it’s really hard for us to survive.”
Potential untapped
Leaders of this predominantly Latino city of 25,000 acknowledge that although a valued tradition, the 40-plus bridal stores and related businesses that dominate downtown San Fernando are not capitalizing on the area’s full retail potential. In recent years, they have accounted for just 1% of the city’s sales tax revenue, statistics show.
So officials are considering ways to reshape downtown by bringing in new residential, commercial and mixed-use projects that would attract customers, create jobs and capture cash being spent in stores outside the city.
“We’re looking at retail leakage . . . and cannibalization, where businesses are so intensely populated [in one place] they’re hurting each other, and we’re trying to find a balance between these two things,” Mayor Steven Veres said. “We do need to look at diversifying.”
Already in the works and awaiting completion of an environmental impact report is a mixed-use senior housing project that would provide 100 units and 10,000 square feet of commercial space near the downtown mall.
The city also is considering hiring a consulting firm to help identify the types of businesses and services for which customers now must leave the community, and determine how to attract such retailers to San Fernando.
Sales tax loss feared
Five stores on the mall recently closed, and city officials are anticipating a loss in sales tax revenue.
“We’re dealing with limited access to credit, foreclosures and some [storefront] vacancy issues,” Veres said. “What’s happening in San Fernando is consistent with what’s going on regionally, nationally and internationally.”
Cuiriz, the merchants association leader, said she would welcome coffee shops, boutiques and even a movie theater to the downtown area.
But she said she wants the city to do more to bolster existing businesses -- perhaps marketing San Fernando as “the destination for wedding shopping.”
“I believe that this is our brand, and we should take pride in that and enhance what we have,” Cuiriz said as she strolled past mall windows lined with mannequins in colorful lace, satin and taffeta.
“I wouldn’t mind San Fernando being a mecca for bridal stores,” said Sandra Yanes, owner of Romance Bridal, as she displayed a custom-made table centerpiece doll dressed in a blue satin gown similar to the one that would be worn by the prospective bride.
But the last thing Nunez wants to see is another wedding shop.
“The more they open, the worse it will be for everybody here,” she said. “It would be yet another option for customers, and less chance they will stay in your store.”
She and other bridal store owners say it’s not just the ailing economy but fellow merchants who are hurting business by underpricing alterations and other services and dramatically slashing gown prices.
That has sparked a price war that is threatening to close some stores, where bridal gowns average around $800.
“Some people don’t know how to properly charge,” said Claudia Gonzalez of Bridal Etcetera, which offers photography, video and accessories in addition to gowns and tuxedos. “They might go very low. As a result . . . people will go to that particular shop, and everybody else suffers.”
Isaac Algaze, who recently opened Sandy’s Bridal -- his fourth bridal store in downtown San Fernando -- said he was aware that some merchants took issue with his prices and discounts. But catering both to shoppers on a budget and those able to splurge helps to boost sales in the city, he said.
“I’m trying to help improve the economy,” said Algaze, whose stylish gowns sell for $200 to $2,000. “I try to give the best service, the best price, and try to make you happy. Right now, business is getting better.”
But Nunez and at least a dozen other store owners have formed a group called Bridal and Events Assn., which aims to establish what they call “better business practices” by guaranteeing quality service and comparable prices to customers who shop at association-member stores.
“What we want is fair business,” Nunez said. “We are trying to protect our [stores].”
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